yet another road trip...

first up, i don't think any of us really enjoyed this trip - dh was totally exhausted from all that driving, li'l one was feverish the whole weekend, i didn't enjoy the journey coz of the space constraint (times like this i always wish that we had a MPV!) and my parents had to endure li'l one's incessant whining/crying in the car.

saturday, 25/10/08

we left my parents' place around 11am and was caught in a (bearable) jam at the tuas checkpoint (as expected) - made a quick lunch stop just after we crossed over to malaysia. along the way, li'l one was grumbling/whining/crying/fussing as she was running a temperature. she didn't really want to be in the car-seat and i had to carry her most of the way, nursing her so that she could go to sleep. she had no appetite for any food at all and only want (breast)milk the whole weekend. i feared greatly for her safety since the north-south highway is infamous for traffic accidents even though dh is one of the safest driver around (yes, he drives fast but he is very responsive to changing conditions on the roads). we arrived KL on schedule but could not locate the service apartment that we were staying at so wasted some time driving around. eventually, we rang up them up for directions - funnily, we were just across the road when we stopped to make the call. :P

after we checked-in, my parents & i went for a short walk in klcc with li'l one while dh took a (short) well deserved nap. dinner was at our usual haunt - Hakka Restaurant (#6, Jalan Kia Peng 50450 KL) - its just across the road to Novotel Hydro Majestic and very prominent so its easy to locate it. we had the steamboat (for 4 pax) and ordered a side order of their yummy pork belly and the bill came up to RM120+ - very reasonable considering the amount of food we get for the steamboat - quality is not bad too. we probably should have just ordered steamboat for 2 pax (the min. order) though so that we can order other dishes to try (we almost always eat the steamboat when we come here). we intended to go petaling street for a walk after dinner but after driving around for 30 mins , we gave up trying to locate the place and went back to sleep (well, my mom, li'l one & i slept while dh watched soccer with my dad)

sunday, 26/10/08

we had the buffet breakfast provided by the service apartment then checked out and went on our way to cameron highlands where the journey from kl city to tapah exit took us just over an hour. then the nightmare began - the narrow, winding road up cameron highlands is just unbelieveable... i was totally nausea in the car (partly because i was starting to feel hungry and no, i'm not pregnant) and li'l one kept whining (i think she was suffering from motion sickness too). we had to make multiple stops along the way to 'reduce the pain' - stopping for lunch @ the ringlet, subsequently stopping at the bee farms, strawberry farms, the BOH tea plantation as well as the souvenir shops (which sold everything you can imagine in the shape of strawberries). all in all, the 50km+ from the ringlet to the peak took us almost 5 hours!

i was so happy when we finally reached the peak and quickly checked into the hotel!! the hotel gave us inter-connecting rooms for convenience. we were more than 1,600m above sea-level so naturally the air was cool and thus the hotel did not have air-conditioning. on top of that, we had an excellent view from our room as we were at the highest accessible point of the highlands. after taking another short rest, we wanted to drive into the nearest town for dinner & some shopping - which did not materialise... after almost an hour in the car, we were not even 1km away from our hotel - the single-lane roads (on each side) were so packed with cars/tour buses that we were probably moving at 1metre/min! so *I* made the decision for dh to turn the car around and eat at the little restaurant near our hotel - Strawberry View Restaurant (Kea Farm - its the only restaurant here so you won't miss it). we had steamboat (again) as many of the items on their menu were not available. this time round, we ordered 3 pax share (for the steamboat) & stir-fried beef with spring onion. we left the restaurant pocket happy but stomach disappointed (the bill was only RM60+) - service was terrible too due to the crowd (too many customers, too little servers) : our dinner took almost 2 hours. fortunately, li'l one was sleeping through it all!

mom had a field day buying cheap vegetables & flowers after dinner and we all went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep (actually dh stayed up AGAIN to watch soccer but at least his fav. team won!)

monday, 27/10/08

we checked out immediately after our breakfast at the hotel as we were hoping to avoid the crowded heading home after the holidays. on our way down the same nauseating road, we made one more 'tourist' stop at the Lata Iskandar Waterfall before hitting the highway. we stopped by Sogo in KL city for lunch @ the Manhattan Fish Market before continuing our journey on the north-south highway. again, li'l one refused to be in the car seat so i had to carry & nurse her the whole journey. we made a detour to JB city for a yummy seafood dinner before heading back via woodlands where we were caught in a (almost) 2 hours' jam. by the time we reached home, we had been on the roads for almost 12 hours (albeit with stops along the way)!

enjoy the photos...